The heavy rain promised for the second day of the MotoGP test at Valencia never came, the track drying towards the end of the day, allowing almost everyone to get out and put in a number of laps on a dry track. Dani Pedrosa ended the day on top of the timesheets, posting a time underneath the race lap record, a sign that the condition of the track was good enough at the end. Cal Crutchlow ended as 2nd fastest, a third of a second behind Pedrosa, and a little over a tenth quicker than Stefan Bradl, who has just announced a contract extension with LCR and HRC.

Honda have announced that they have extended their contract with Stefan Bradl, and decided to increase their level of support. The German had an impressive rookie season in the LCR Honda team, which persuaded HRC to increase their support for the coming two seasons, extending his contract for a year and upgrading his status to "factory supported" meaning that in effect, Bradl will be on factory-spec equipment for 2013 and 2014.

If there is one subject that is getting mind-numbingly tedious to have to write about in motorcycle racing right now, it's the weather. Almost every race this year has lost at least one session to difficult conditions, and we had hoped that the 2013 season might start off a little better. No such luck.

Press releases from the MotoGP teams after the first day of testing at Valencia. Yamaha did not issue a press release, as Jorge Lorenzo did not ride today, and Valentino Rossi is embargoed from speaking due to contractual obligations:

Rain stops play on Day 1 in Valencia

The temperamental weather which affected last week's Grand Prix in Valencia, has once again disrupted proceedings in the first day of testing in Valencia.

The weather blighted the first day of testing at Valencia, with half-decent conditions in the morning with a damp track giving way to harder rain as the day went on. The wet weather meant that a number of riders decided to pass up on testing today, meaning that for example both Marc Marquez and Bradley Smith did not make it out onto the track today. Marquez will be testing at Sepang at the end of the month, while Smith will ride tomorrow if the heavy rain which is expected arrives.

The 2013 season is already well underway, and already it's been badly affected by the rain. Though Tuesday dawned bright and sunny, the first showers started moving in shortly before 10am, when the test was due to start, sprinkling just enough to make slicks a risky proposition, but not enough to be able to use wets properly. It started raining more heavily later, and with a track now fully wet, there has been a mixture of riders on the track already.

The sense of expectation in the air at Valencia is wound so tight it hums. Tomorrow morning, some time after 10am, some of that expectation will start to dissipate as we get the first glimpses of answers that have preoccupied MotoGP fans for the past few months.

Pol Espargaro has started the 2013 Moto2 season in much the same way he finished the last. The HP Pons rider was the fastest man of the day at a sunny if rather chilly Valencia, posting a time already a couple of tenths quicker than his pole record set on Saturday. Julian Simon was immediately quicker on the Kalex than he was on the Suter, having moved from Team BQR to Team Italtrans, while Mika Kallio was 3rd quickest on the Marc VDS Racing bike. Nico Terol underlined his speed at the Valencia circuit by ending the session in 4th.

So the 2012 MotoGP season is over, and someone with a great deal of courage and a little bit of money to wager could have ended the year rich beyond their wildest dreams. If you could have found someone to take your bet seriously, you would have got a very, very good return on one race being won from the back of the grid, and the other from a rider starting from pit lane. Just one of those events is highly unusual, having both of the happen on the same day is unheard of.

If the weather played a starring role in MotoGP in 2012, it has already decided to intervene in the 2013 season. While the sun is out and skies are clear at the Valencia track on Monday for the Moto2 test, the prospects for MotoGP are decidedly uncertain. Though Tuesday is set to start fine, rain looks likely to start falling late in the afternoon, with the second and final day of testing on Wednesday promising to be a washout.